


the start of something

by transezreal



Category: League of Legends
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Nesting, baby birds, parenting, rakan and xayah are in love, rakan is nesting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27986652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transezreal/pseuds/transezreal
Summary: rakan decides to adopt some abandoned eggs. xayah’s not so sure.
Relationships: Rakan/Xayah (League of Legends)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 31





	the start of something

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is uh my first league fic so. here we are.   
> i know that lhotlan vastaya don’t lay eggs, so for the purpose of this fic we are gonna imagine that there’s a tribe of bird vastaya that do lay eggs  
> rakan is the “mom” in that he is the one who makes the nest and keeps the eggies close to him  
> and xayah is the “dad” she’s the provider and the protector   
> this was soft and fluffy and so fun to write so i hope yall like it

“you know, i’ve always wanted to be a father,” rakan murmurs thoughtfully, studying the little nest of eggs. “maybe if you’d say yes to my marriage proposal, we could be on the road to parenthood..” 

and xayah sighs a little bit, rolls her eyes, but it’s fond. they both know why she hasn’t accepted the proposal, and they’re both fine with it. rakan just likes to be dramatic, and they both know it. well, xayah knows it. rakan can be oblivious. 

“yeah, yeah, you know how much i love it when you get down one knee and go ‘xayah... will you marry me?’ i love that. we’ll get married someday, when our work is done.” xayah flicks rakan’s forehead gently. 

rakan whines, rubbing at his forehead. “but we can’t have babies out of wedlock, xayah!”

“uh, says who? that’s such a human tradition, rakan. we can have kids whenever we’re ready to– and right now we aren’t ready for kids.”

and that seems to end the conversation. so xayah thinks. 

later on, once they’ve packed up their camp and are once again on the road towards the next task, xayah notices that rakan is being... strange. it seems like he’s sort of hunched over, walking sort of oddly. he offers no stupid remarks or jokes as they travel, which sets xayah’s alarm bells ringing. eventually, she calls for a break and turns to her mate with a frown. 

“what happened? are you hurt? you’re all hunched over. rakan, are you hurt?” xayah frets, which is something she tries to avoid. but it’s rakan, and he’s being unlike himself. 

rakan straightens up, but he keeps his arms all wrapped up in his cloak. what is going on?

“rakan, let me see your arms. let me see. rakan, move your cloak, i need to see.” xayah is, quite frankly, frantic. rakan won’t move and she can’t figure out why, until she pulls on his cloak and it reveals what he’s been hiding. 

cradled in rakan’s arms is the bird’s nest from the day before. inside the nest, two perfect little eggs are nestled. rakan is looking at them fondly. great. 

“rakan..” xayah sighs. “we can’t keep them. where are you going to find the time to incubate and hatch babies?”

“..somewhere, i will, i promise, please can we keep them?” rakan begs, holding the nest protectively. “i’ll keep them warm!”

“rakan..” xayah frowns. “are you sure this is a good idea? i mean.. now is not the best time to bring children into the world. not now, when we still have so much work to do..” 

“xayah, i promise i’ll take this one and do it all by myself! and then we can have two babies, think of it as.. as rebuilding what you lost.” and well, rakan’s puppy eyes are very convincing, so xayah relents. 

rakan finds some nice material along the way and makes a sort of sling to carry the eggs around in. it’s easier than clutching the nest, and it leaves his hands free to do other things. plus, it’s nice to have the eggs close, to keep them warm. someday, they’ll be little babies. it’s a nice thought. 

and so life goes on, a little busier and a little more delicate than usual. they make it work because, well, that’s what they do. rakan keeps the eggs close and safe and warm. he dotes on them as if they’re his own, wrapping them up in a spare blanket to keep them warm when he sleeps. xayah shakes her head every time she sees rakan cooing over the eggs, but honestly, it’s sweet. 

as time passes, rakan guards the eggs even more fiercely. at one point, he starts snatching blankets from humans, anything he can use to keep his babies safe. secretly, xayah finds it adorable. 

rakan continues to steal soft things for his eggs, and it gets to a point that when xayah declares it’s time to pack up, he’s unwilling to. 

“rakan, we have to go, come on.” xayah is already packed up, but rakan is not. granted, he did just wake up– rakan has always been fond of sleeping in. but now, his unwillingness to pack up and travel is not cute. it’s annoying. 

“rakan, come on,” xayah repeats. she’s losing patience very quickly. it’s not like rakan to stall like this. “we gotta go now, honey.” she starts picking up blankets and folding them up, cleaning up after rakan. 

rakan is sulky the entire way to their next destination. he pouts and whines and essentially throws a fit. like a child. it’s funny, given that he’s doting over those eggs. 

“what is going on?” xayah finally asks after rakan outright refuses to pack up. he just sits there, in a mess of blankets, protecting the eggs. maybe it was a mistake to let him keep them.

rakan just shrugs, rearranging his absolute tangle of blankets. he seems quite content to stay right where he is. 

“oh,” xayah mutters, a realization dawning on her. “rakan, are you nesting?” 

rakan just shrugs again. “i don’t know, it just feels like the right thing to do.” and then he very reluctantly gets up, secures the eggs, and folds up the rest of his little blanket nest. 

“so... you’re nesting,” xayah says, raising an eyebrow. “you’re so attached, mieli. what if they don’t hatch? you’ll be so sad..”

“they’ll hatch,” rakan hums. “i can tell. they’re warm. they’ll hatch soon.” 

“soon?” xayah is a bit skeptical. soon? well, it’s true that they have gotten bigger... those eggs are huge, they can’t possibly grow much bigger.. maybe rakan is right. maybe they will hatch, and then she and rakan will be parents. it’s.. kind of cute, honestly. 

“okay, so when they hatch.. you’re nesting right now, so you’ll stay with them.. so i’ll go out and find food for us all?” xayah feels proud at that, at being the provider for their little dream family. 

“yeah,” rakan agrees readily, thrilled that xayah is inserting herself into all of this. honestly, he’d been a bit afraid that she would reject him because of it. “aww, that’s perfect. you’re strong and perfect. my sweet provider.” and then he grins stupidly, gazing at xayah lovingly. and hell, that makes xayah preen a little bit. 

“i love you,” she says, leaning down to give rakan a kiss. “so when do you think they’ll hatch?”

“maybe a month? a bit more than that?” rakan shrugs. “soon enough, miella.” 

“alright,” xayah plops herself down next to rakan. “but we can’t keep stalling like this. we still have plans, rakan.” 

and so rakan reluctantly continues to pack up his nest each time they move, always setting it up with great care. now that xayah has come to accept this as a fact, she finds it charming. rakan is so gentle, so caring, so precise when it comes to his nest and their eggs. 

“when?” xayah asks constantly, worming her way into the nest and cuddling up to rakan, sometimes sitting behind him and hugging him like a baby bear on its mother’s back. “are they hatching yet? when?” she reaches out to touch the eggs, delighting in how warm they are beneath her palms. 

“not yet, miella, but soon. feel how warm they are?” rakan places his hands over xayah’s, beaming happily. “there’s life in these eggs, can’t you tell?” 

“yeah, i can.. they’re so warm. like you, baby.” xayah tells rakan, turning to give him a kiss. “what will we name them?” 

“i don’t know,” rakan says. “but maybe we’ll know when they hatch.” 

“and if we don’t?” 

“then we’ll figure it out. we’re good at that.”

—

“xayah, xayah, xayah wake up!” rakan hisses insistently, shaking xayah awake. she squints at him, barely awake. 

“wh.. are we under attack?” she mumbles, rolling over. “what?”

“they’re hatching!” rakan cried gleefully, shaking xayah again. “miella, they’re hatching!” and that gets xayah right up and over to rakan’s lovely– and very impressive– nest, peeking at the eggs. since their conversation, the eggs had gotten slightly bigger, slightly warmer. now, they were cracking slowly, the little ones inside ready to meet the world. 

“i think it just started,” rakan continues on joyously. “the cracks are so teeny!”

“how long will it go?” xayah asks, leaning her weight on rakan. “i might go back to bed...”

“no! don’t you want to see the miracle of life?” rakan pouts, and gets his way. as if xayah could resist any face of his. 

they watch for hours as the cracks deepen and grow, as pieces of the shells flake off. rakan makes little baby noises at the eggs, and xayah laughs at him. he doesn’t even bother to defend himself, he knows she just finds it cute. 

finally, after hours of sitting and watching, rakan is asleep, half curled up in xayah’s lap, when one of the eggs really starts hatching. xayah is quick to shake rakan awake, to point to the hatching egg. 

“look, it’s really hatching. come here, let’s watch.” she pulls rakan up and they both watch, in awe, as the egg hatches bit by bit, until a damp little baby bird sits in front of them, all downy feathers and fine, wispy hair on its little head. it’s ugly... but also adorable. 

rakan picks the baby up and wraps it in a blanket. “miella, it’s a girl! should we name her xayah junior?” 

“uh, no. we’ll find a name. does that other egg look close to hatching to you?” xayah examines the other egg, poking it gently. “i think this one’s starting to hatch.”

rakan plops down next to xayah, the first baby bird in his lap, bundled up in a blanket. she looks squishy and happy, xayah thinks. they both watch the other egg, waiting for it to crack open and show them the little one hiding inside. 

“look, look, look,” xayah shakes rakan. “this one is hatching now.” they both watch with bated breath as the egg slowly breaks open, revealing another baby bird, chunkier but quite similar to its sister. “this one is a boy.. aww.” 

“that’s a big baby,” xayah mumbles, watching rakan wrap him in a blanket. “so now we have two. two babies. two names to come up with. two more mouths to feed... but two more of us. it’s a start.” 

“they’re so cute. like little feathered dumplings.” rakan holds the two babies and just looks at them. they’re soft and vulnerable and downy. completely helpless little things, and the best part? they’re all his, all his and xayah’s. it’s what he’s been dreaming of for.. a long, long time. 

“their heads are so soft,” xayah pats the larger baby, the boy, on the head. he’s soft and downy, and it’s sweet. he’s theirs, he belongs with them. he is part of their family, and so is his sister. xayah can’t believe she didn’t want rakan to keep these two. it’s already hard to imagine what life would be like without them, and it’s only been ten minutes since the boy hatched. 

rakan is busy while xayah studies the babies. he takes all of the blankets and other materials he built their nest out of and shakes them out, getting rid of any remnants of eggshells. then, he rebuilds the nest and gets comfortable. it’s cute, xayah thinks. well, rakan is cute. and so are their mysterious, newly hatched children. 

“where do they come from?” she wonders aloud. “i mean.. we don’t lay eggs. but these ones, they came from eggs, so.. what sort of vastaya are they?” and rakan just shrugs. he doesn’t know. 

“well,” xayah says eventually, after she tires of admiring the new additions to their life, “i guess now it’s time for me to be your provider. i’ll be back.” she kisses rakan softly and disappears, but he’s not worried. he knows she’ll return soon.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twt @ milfrakan !! 
> 
> if you liked it ,, a comment would be so appreciated


End file.
